After the French-Prussian War, Prussia unified the German Federation and established the powerful German Empire. Until the First World War, this period was the heyday of the German nation.

With the remnant victory of unification, the pride of the entire German nation has risen unprecedentedly, and the cohesion of the domestic people is unparalleled. In addition, Prussia has undergone long-term and effective comprehensive compulsory education, which makes Germany at that time the highest scientific and technological level in the world.

Between 1870 and 1913, Germany adopted new technologies, new equipment, and industrial production increased by 4.6 times, while Britain only increased by 1.9 times; the proportion of the world's total industrial output dropped from 31.8% in 1870 to 14% in 1913, while Germany rose from 13.2% to 15.7%!

The reason is that the British were overly immersed in the glorious fantasy of their empire of the sun never set and ignored their investment in basic science education.

People all know that the opportunity of the first industrial revolution was based on the first human technological explosion.

The most important invention of mankind in that era was the vigorous development of steam engines, railways, Jenny textile machines, and navigation technology. Britain did catch up with the historical opportunities at that time, so it achieved the glory of the empire that never set.

But as usual in all old empires, whoever reaches the top of the world will immediately become arrogant and arrogant.

Britain slowly fell into its own powerful fantasy and ignored the competition from other countries for them.

Judging from the political philosophy struggle between Benjamin and Gladstone, we can feel the arrogance of the people in the entire country at that time. The powerful Britain did not take the lead in promoting compulsory education, but allowed Prussia to take the lead in the world.

The result of Prussia's long-term education investment was that a very powerful technological breakthrough was created between the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War.

Technology has promoted a great improvement in production efficiency, and thus promoted the big explosion of the country's GDP. In fact, before the outbreak of World War I, Germany's GDP had surpassed Britain and became the second in the world.

Britain is only the third in the world, ranking first is the United States, which has long implemented isolationism. However, the United States' GDP is first based on its vast territory and abundant resources. In fact, in terms of efficiency, the United States' technological efficiency and industrial production efficiency at that time were far inferior to Germany.

This is actually the confidence of the German Emperor William to dare to launch the First World War. It is precisely because of his powerful force that he dared to challenge Britain's hegemony. In World War I, especially on the Western Front, Germany almost independently suppressed the coalition forces of Britain and France.

In artillery wars and trench wars, they are all fighting for national strength and steel! If Germany had not had the second largest GDP in the world, how could it have fought a war of such a scale?

War was just the ultimate solution to conflicts, and other forms of competition were still booming before the war, including the German Emperor William’s ambitious plan, which was the Baghdad Railway.

Since Britain has fully controlled the world's maritime transportation, the sea route is completely within the range of the Royal Fleet's artillery. In addition, the Navy is a very, very expensive service, and the Navy's talent accumulation cannot be saved overnight.

Therefore, although Germany surpassed Britain in terms of science and technology, culture and education, GDP, etc., it is a pity that they were unable to counterattack in terms of naval forces. Just by the accumulation of talents, Prussia and Germany are far less profound than Britain's foundation.

The lifeblood on the ocean has always been in the hands of Britain, including the famous straits and famous transportation routes in the world, and have been tightly controlled by Britain.

In order to break through this dilemma, German Emperor William launched the Baghdad Railway Plan, built the railway from Berlin, and passed through the Austro-Hungarian Empire, directly running through the Ottoman Empire, which is later Türkiye.

The Bosphorus Strait, which is known as the Istanbul Strait, is the dividing line between Europe and Asia. At that time, Germany's plan was to build a railway from Berlin to get here, and build a bridge here. Then, through cooperation with the Ottoman Empire, the railway was built to Baghdad through the Iranian Plateau, leading directly to the Persian Gulf.

In this way, German goods and German military forces can be directly deployed to Central Asia without direct access to the ocean, or even expanded to East Asia through Central Asia.

In history, this plan was strongly obstructed by Britain and France, but Germany was no longer the same as the former Wuxia Amon. Under the pressure of Germany's strong nationality, Britain was forced to make a series of concessions and officially agreed with Germany's plan to build a railway to Baghdad before the outbreak of World War I.

Unfortunately, World War I forced the construction of this plan. Germany only built the railway to the European side of the Istanbul Strait. In other words, the earliest railways on the Balkan Peninsula were all built by the Germans.

If the German Emperor William was really allowed to complete this super project according to his plan, then global geopolitics would definitely undergo tremendous changes in the 20th century.

Modern people may find it difficult to understand the influence of railways on the world pattern at that time. They may think that your railway has to pass through so many countries, and each country has its own political considerations. How can you make the entire railway become your core interest in Germany?

Will there be a country that recognizes control of the railway today and robs it tomorrow? Otherwise, it will be destroyed by you? Because after all, the railway passes through someone else’s territory!

Those who have this idea probably don’t know the rules for building railways at that time. In the 19th and 20th century, when global powers began to expand railways to the world, their investment model was completely different from those of other countries in later generations.

For example, Britain and France built railways, and built railways from Beijing to Shanghai, the Qing Dynasty. According to international practices at that time, such super projects invested and built by foreign powers, in order to ensure the core interests of their own country, they had to jointly obtain the right to garrison.

In other words, if the Qing government accepted the funds, technology, and their companies, corresponding British and French troops, they would be able to be stationed along the railway.

A very realistic example in history is Zhongdong Road, which is the Northeast Railway trunk line that we are very familiar with. Dalian leads to Harbin, and then connects to the Siberian Railway. This section of the railway in the three eastern provinces, the north and south arteries are called Zhongdong Road.

Until the Republic of China, that is, the era of Zhang Zuolin when warlords were separatist, there were always Russians and Japanese troops on the Middle East Road. Of course, there were no Japanese troops at the earliest times, and the earliest Russian troops on the Middle East Road were completely Tsarist Russian troops.

When did the Japanese army stationed in? It was after the Russo-Japanese War that Japan defeated Tsarist Russia, and Tsarist Russia was forced to ced half of the rights and interests of the Middle East Road, which led to the earliest Japanese army stationed in the three northeastern provinces.

Thinking about it this way, you can understand how amazing the Baghdad Railway of German Emperor William is!

If this was the case, the German army would rush along the railway to the Persian Gulf, like a sharp knife that directly stabbed the hinterland of the British colonial region. To the south, it could threaten Africa, to the east, and to the southwest, it could threaten the Suez Canal.

This is just a military and political significance. If you calculate the commercial value of this railway, it will be extremely large and unlimited!
Chapter completed!